Coast Guard calls off search for missing Ft. Myers, Fla., man

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The Coast Guard called off its search at 7:08 p.m. today for a missing Ft. Myers, Fla., man who was reported overdue from a kayak trip off the coast of Pt. Pleasant Beach, N.J., Wednesday.

Frank D’Alessandro, 52, was reported missing at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Coast Guard crews located an overturned kayak about nine miles off the coast of Pt. Pleasant, which was later confirmed by the Pt. Pleasant Beach Police Department to be the one rented by D’Alessandro.

The Coast Guard searched an area from Sandy Hook, N.J., to Barnegat Light, N.J., and out 24 miles off the coast. The entire search area was about 1,300 square miles.

“Calling off a search is one of the most difficult decisions we have to make,” said Brian Neilan, a search and rescue coordinator at the Fifth Coast Guard District in Portsmouth, Va. “We saturated the area with Coast Guard assets, and I feel confident we covered the area as much as we possibly could. We have suspended the active search, but will resume searching if any new information is obtained, which would assist us in locating Mr. D’Alessandro.”